Thought for the Day: “We know that at night-time someone goes by amongst the trees, but we never speak of it”

I first came across this saying in Visionary and Dreamer, David Cecil's study of the artists Samuel Palmer and Edward Burne-Jones. If I'm remembering correctly, it was a favourite of the latter.

Looking for it online the other day, I found this formulation of it in several places:

A Pacific island chief was being bullied by a missionary about his beliefs.

"Have you, my dear, no conception of a deity?"

The chief replied: "We know that at night-time someone goes by amongst the trees, but we never speak of it."